Variant Dungeon Guide for The Merchant's Tale

During the 89th Live Letter, game director Naoki Yoshida announced that there will be a new Variant and Criterion (V/C) Dungeon releasing during Patch 7.4, which launches the 16th of December, 2025. This new V/C dungeon is called The Merchant's Tale, and features several new revisions to the V/C dungeon system. Do note that as of writing this, it is unclear whether this will be released with the launch of Patch 7.4, or at a later date. More information is set to come with the next Live Letter.

The previous three V/C dungeons followed the system of having a Variant dungeon that had multiple paths to take, and each path brought the players to a different boss or changed certain outcomes during the dungeon. Following that, the players could enter the Criterion mode of the dungeon, which was a linear dungeon without choices, in which players typically fought three bosses, each with packs of enemies known as trash mobs prior to reaching the boss. Finally, players could attempt the Savage version of the Criterion mode of the dungeon, which was essentially the same as the Criterion mode, but with enemies having more HP, doing significantly more damage, and players being unable to resurrect at all if KO'd any time during the dungeon.

This system has been done away with and replaced with a new system. Previous V/C dungeons will remain the same, but new V/C dungeons will follow the new system.

This version of the V/C dungeons will remain unchanged, allowing players to enter the dungeon and choose their own path. Players will still be able to complete the dungeon alone or with a party of up to four players. Your choices during the dungeon will determine which boss you end up facing, as well as what mechanics the boss does. Completing all possible routes will still offer an additional reward, likely a mount.

Additionally, players will be able to enter this version of The Merchant's Tale starting at level 90, and completion will reward experience points to level up. While in the instance, players will be synced to level 100, even if they are below 100.

This is the first of the major changes to the V/C system. Players can attempt this version of the dungeon with two to four players, with the difficulty automatically adjusting based on how many players enter the dungeon. You cannot attempt this version solo. Players also must be level 100 to enter this version of the dungeon. In this mode, there is no exploration and no trash mobs. Three bosses will be present, and players can choose which order to engage them in. Each boss has its own reawrds, and defeating all three bosses will yield an additional reward. Players can choose to only defeat one or two bosses and then leave as well. Yoshida claims that the difficulty of the bosses in this Advanced version will be "slightly above" their difficulty in the regular Variant version of the dungeon.

Criterion Dungeons are no longer the middle tier difficulty in the new V/C system. Now, Criterion will be the highest level of difficulty, similar to the previous Savage version of the dungeon. This version of the dungeon requires four players, and can only be entered by players that are level 100. Furthermore, this version of the dungeon forces a party composition of 1 Tank, 1 Healer, and 2 DPS, unless entered with a pre-formed party.

In this mode, the dungeon is linear and the bosses must be killed in order. Trash mobs and exploration are still excluded in this mode. Similar to the previous Savage version, players will have restrictions on Resurrection after being KO'd. Yoshida claims that this version of the dungeon is "very high difficulty," which is expected to be on par with the difficulty of the previous Savage versions of the V/C dungeons.

At this time, it is unknown what the rewards will be from this content, and if the higher difficulties will have unique rewards. However, a couple screenshots shown by Yoshida suggest that there will be a mount, as well as some sets for glamour. Yoshida mentioned that he will show more of the upcoming V/C dungeon during the next Live Letter, so updates to this page will be made as new information is available!